Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Major Characters
Blanche……………………………………………………….…Estelle Parsons
Buck’s wife, the daughter of a preacher (church speaker), who
is nervous and very uncomfortable taking part in criminal activity.
Plot Summary
This film is the story of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, a couple of petty criminals who became famous throughout the United
States after successfully robbing a series of banks between 1931 and 1934. Although they could be violent and dangerous, and in fact
did kill several people, it is clear that a large part of the American public sympathized with them. Perhaps this is because as the
depression caused great economic hardship throughout the country, many people may have felt that robbing a bank was not such a bad
thing to do. Regardless, this film did much to insure that the real Bonnie and Clyde would remain as two of the truly legendary figures
of American cultural history.
The story begins when Bonnie, a beautiful Dallas waitress, catches Clyde trying to steal her mother’s car. He is a small time Texas
thief who had just been released from prison, but Bonnie sees in him a handsome and charming young man, and one who can take her
away from her life of poverty and boredom. Soon, the two get to know each other and fall in love, and then decide to rob every bank
they can from Texas to Missouri. Of course they don’t mean to cause any harm, but they do. Lots.
After a while, they join forces with CW Moss, an uneducated but sweet and smart young mechanic. Soon after that, they are joined by
Clyde’s brother Buck, a recently released criminal himself, and Buck’s wife Blanche, who is conservative, nervous and of little use to
the others. Still, they are a team, and together they become known as “The Barrows Gang,” the nation’s most wanted bank robbers.
And robbery after robbery, shoot-out after shoot-out, they become the objects of increasing media attention and public curiosity, in
large part because they really did seem unstoppable. At least for a while……
Bonnie and Clyde were poor and undereducated, and much of their English was grammatically incorrect. Thus, while you should
always try to understand everything that is said, you should also try to avoid saying the following types of errors, all of which are
common throughout the film:
Bull!
A shorter alternative word for “bullshit,” which is one of the great obscenities in English. Both refer to lies, half-truths,
distortions, etc…
What line of work are you in when you’re not stealing cars?
One way of saying “What kind of work do you do?”
What do y’all do for a good time around here? Listen to the grass grow?
“Y’all” is a common way of saying “You people” in the Southern United States (It is a literal contraction of “you+all”).
Cut it out!
An excellent colloquial expression which simply means “stop that!”
I might as well tell you right off; I ain’t much of a lover boy.
To do something “right off” is to do it first before anything else, or perhaps immediately. A “lover boy” is Clyde’s way of
referring to a man who is sexually skilled or experienced.
If all you want is a stud service, you get on back to West Dallas.
A “stud” is a slang word for a sexually skilled and strong man.
(It is also used more formally to refer to male animals, especially horses, that are used to get females pregnant).
You and me travelling together; we could pick a path clean across this state.
A “path” is a trail or passage way. This is Clyde’s way of saying that if they stay together, they can steal, rob and travel all
across Texas.
How would you like to go walking into the dining room of the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, wearing a nice silk dress and have
everybody waiting on you?
“Silk” is an expensive cloth or fabric. This is Clyde’s way of asking Bonnie if she’d like to be so rich that can she stay and
eat in fancy Dallas hotels.
You got a right to that! :: Where did you figure all that up?!
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“To figure” something is to think it, and thus to “figure up” something is to think it up, or think about it, although this is
rare today.
A cement plant.
A factory where cement is produced. Cement is a hard material made from wet powder that is used to make sidewalks,
buildings and other structures.
Those drivers come in to eat your greasy burgers…and they kid you and you kid them back, but they’re stupid and dumb boys…with
big old tattoos on.
A “greasy burger” is a hamburger that is fatty. “To kid” a person is to make fun of them, or to talk to them in a joking
manner. A “tattoo” is a drawing that is burned into a person’s skin.
You’re a knock-out!
A colloquial expression for a truly beautiful woman (“To knock
out” a person is to him them so hard that they lose consciousness).
I’m gonna get you a Smith and Wesson. It will go in your hand easy.
Note that “going to”----> “gonna” in rapid speech. A
“Smith and Wesson” is a well known brand of hand gun.
This is a stick-up. Just take it easy and nothing’s gonna happen to you.
A “stick-up” is the actual act of robbing a bank, business or person, while using a gun (People are told to stick up their hands
in the air).
CW joins the gang, and soon a bank robbery goes terribly wrong.
You think you got the guts for our line of work?
To have “the guts” to do something is to have the
courage to do it (Guts are literally stomach intestines).
I know you got the nerve to short change old ladies coming in
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for gas.…but have you got what it takes to pull bank jobs with us?
To have “the nerve” to do something is to have the courage or guts to do it. “To short change” a customer or client is to
intentionally give them back less then what they are owed, usually in a way that they don’t notice. If a person “has what it
takes” to do something, they have the skills and attitude necessary to do it, and to “pull a bank job” is to be part of a bank
robbery.
Do a dumb-ass thing like that again and I’m going to kill you!
A very slangy adjective meaning really stupid.
Buck and Blanche join the others, and soon the entire
“ Barrows Gang” faces the law in a small Missouri town.
Breaking those damn rocks with a sledge hammer night and day.
A “sledge hammer” is a giant hammer-like tool that is used to break huge objects like rocks into small pieces. Clyde is
describing the type of “work” he was forced to do in prison.
Dairy farm.
A farm where cows are raised to produce
milk, cheese and other dairy products.
She says, son, whatever you do, don’t sell that cow!
This is the “punch line,” or final line, to the joke that Buck is telling.
Mama wants to keep the cows for milk, not knowing that what she really likes is the brandy that the doctor put inside the
milk.
“She never once faltered from beauty to play on the up and up…..
“To falter” is to stumble, walk with great difficulty, or grow weak.
To do something “on the up and up” is to do it honestly.
Law enforcement officers throughout the Southwest are amazed at the… bandit Clyde Barrow and his yellow-haired companion,
Bonnie Parker….
In this case, “law enforcement officers” are the police, and possibly the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). If a person is
“amazed,” they are
filled with surprise, shock or wonder. A “bandit” is an armed robber.
They have been credited with robbing the Mesquite Bank in the aforementioned city and the JJ Landry oil refinery in Arps, Texas.
“Aforementioned” is another way of saying previously mentioned.
An oil “refinery” is where oil is turned into gas and other products.
A V-8 sedan.
A “V-8” is a type of car engine, and a sedan is a type of
car that usually has four doors and a back seat for passengers.
Sheriff!
The highest ranking police officer in a police department.
We’ve got to discourage this bounty hunting for the Barrows gang.
A “bounty” is reward money that the police offer anyone who will help capture a criminal, and thus “bounty hunting” is the
act of individuals trying to find and catch criminals in order to collect that money.
What would they say if they heard that? Lordy, they’d have a fit!
“Lordy” is a very dated way of expressing emotion. A “fit” is an excellent word to describe a sudden and loud outburst of
anger.
We’ve been cutting and pasting everything we could find about you.
“To paste” is to stick or fasten with glue or paste. Here, the speaker
is talking about newspaper articles about Bonnie and Clyde.
Hold on!
A very common way of telling a person to wait.
What the hell made you do a damn fool thing like that?
Note that “the hell” is added to Wh questions to show emotion such as
anger. “Damn fool” is an ungrammatical but effective adjective which means stupid or ridiculous (foolish is more correct).
How does it feel to have a couple of big deals stay in your house?
A “big deal” is something that is very important, although here CW is referring to specific people (Bonnie and Clyde), which
is never done.
You look like trash, all marked up like that. Cheap trash.
If a piece of paper is “marked up,” it is written on, but in this case, Ivan is referring to CW’s body, which is covered with
tattoos (“White trash” is a very negative expression referring to poor and uneducated people).
The word is out that Bonnie and Clyde are holed up just
out of town and they’re fixing to bust in and take Blanche out.
If “the word is out,” lots of people have heard the news (in this case, that Bonnie and Clyde are near). If a person is “holed
up,” they’re hiding in a particular building. If a person is “fixing” to do something, they’re planning to do it, though this verb
is dated. Finally, “to bust in” to a building is to violently enter it, often by knocking down doors.
….They call them cold hearted killers, they say they are heartless and mean, but I say with pride, I knew Clyde, when he was upright,
honest and clean…
If a person is “cold hearted” or “heartless,” they are mean, abusive and indifferent to the suffering of others. A person who is
“upright” is honest, fair and responsible, but this word is a bit old-fashioned.
…If they try to act like citizens, and rent them a nice little flat, about
the third night, they’re invited to fight, by a sub gun’s rat-a-tat-tat…
A “flat” is a British word for an apartment. A “sub gun” is a never used way of referring to a sub machine gun, which is an
extremely powerful gun that can shoot hundreds of bullets a minute. “Rat-a-tat-tat” is the
sound that machine guns makes.
.…Someday they’ll go down together, they’ll bury them side by side, to few it will be grief, to the law a relief, but it’s death for
Bonnie and Clyde…”
In this case, if “they go down together,” this means they will probably die together. “Grief” is great sadness or feelings of
suffering.
Why do you want to merry me? :: To make an honest women out of you.
“To make an honest person out of” somebody is to influence them so that they become honest and moral. A somewhat silly
expression.
What would you do if you could start all over clean, with no record and nobody after us? :: ….I wouldn’t live in the same state where
we pull our jobs.
In this case, a “record” is a “criminal record” that the police keep on all individuals. “To pull a job” is a very slangy way of
saying to do a job, though here, the job that Clyde is talking about is robbing banks.
I’m your pa, I’m your kin! Not that there Clyde Barrow!
“Pa” is an old-fashioned word for dad, and “kin” is an
old word for any close relative that is related by blood.
He’s over there in the hardware store getting light bulbs for his daddy.
A “hardware store” sells all types of tools to build houses and
other buildings, such as hammers, screws, toilets, wood, etc…
If that boy didn’t have his head strapped on, he’d lose it.
If something is “strapped on,” it is tied down with
rope or something else so that it will not fall off.
1. Why do you think so much of the American public was so fascinated by Bonnie and Clyde?